Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sound Sleep ❯ Sleep? ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Disclaimer: I do not own it. I'm not making any money off of it. There are too many people in the world for you to sue for it. Just read. ; )

Summary: He needs something. She has that something that he wants. When he gets it, will he leave her to the rest of the world or take her for himself...

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Chapter One.

The sand in her shoes was getting to be annoying. It was annoying while she was training with Kakashi and her group, and now it was even more annoying as she walked into her apartment, dumping the offending material out her window. Why was the sand in her shoes, in her home, invading her life? She wasn’t quite certain, but Naruto was probably to blame. More times than not had he tracked something all over her floor when he came by before they trained. She walked with him to their practices in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings as well, preferring to have socialize with friends unlike some of the more quiet nins.

Before her mind could dwell on the fact that Sasuke would probably never allow anyone into his heart or mind and probably bring on a bout of self-loathing and rue, Sakura noticed there was more sand in her bedroom than anywhere else in the house. Mostly near the window, but also pooling in the floorboards of her bedroom, living in the cracks and probably multiplying by itself for all she was finding. IT had become a daily chore to sweep out the entire apartment, and she was starting to get tired of it. But how could it be the blond tracking sand it? Naruto never went into her bedroom when he came over, and this scared her a little. Gripping a kunai in her leg holster, she walked slowly out of her small apartment toward the road.

Sakura stalked down the street intent on finding Naruto. He was most likely at the shop getting some ramen—exactly where she’d left him when they’d gotten off of practice. Sakura now wished that she had taken him up on his offer to stay and have lunch; how was she supposed to comfortable live in her home when she wasn’t sure how this sand had gotten into her house? She sighed, visibly expressing her dismay for the entire world to see.

“Sakura!” Naruto yelled towards her. She looked up to see him slurping up a few noodles of ramen and looking in her general direction. “Have you come to join me?” He asked, with a look in his eyes that said ‘I knew that you’d come to the ramen side one day.’

She sighed again and sat on the stool next to him in silence. She wasn’t really sure how she was going to explain her newfound fear of her apartment, but something just wasn’t right about the place. And he gut was telling her to stay away.

Naruto’s eyebrows raised. Normally the kunoichi would retort something witty and then accuse him of egomania or bad hygiene or something. But when she didn’t say anything he motioned for her to elaborate. But she just sat there and smiled at the people behind the counter and waved at a couple passersby. “Sakura, look at me.” Once he had her attention, he asked, “What’s going on? I thought you were going home to rest after practice?”

“Well, I was…” When his next expression inquired on the remark. she continued. “I keep finding sand in my shoes and in my house. At first I thought it was you, Naruto, but then I found it in my bedroom, and I know that you have never been in there.”

Naruto raised his eyebrows pervertedly.

“Unless you come in a look at me at night! You’re so dead!” Sakura jumped a bit at her outburst and reminded herself that she was in public company right on the street, so outbursts like that could ruin her image as a lady. “You wouldn’t have the guts, anyway.”

Naruto watched her run her fingers through the short, pink hair that she wore so perfectly. It was amazing. She didn’t clean it too often; her hair was just that great. It’s like it cleaned and groomed itself on its own, when she was sleeping. But he shook his head and turned back to the conversation. “So you’re finding sand in your shoes and stuff? Wow, you think that maybe you need a new pair? Maybe it’s you that’s been tracking the sand into your house…”

“How dare you! I do not. I clean my feet off as I walk into the door, unlike some people! Humph!” She stalked off down the street. Forget about being scared of all the sand in her room, the mystery was an appetizing relief from being around Naruto sometimes. How dare he think that she of all people would stalk into her own house and track sand inside! She was not an animal! She was a gorgeous girl that couldn’t help her beauty!

“What did I say?” Naruto just sat there finishing his ramen while he contemplated her outburst. Deciding that it was just a girl thing that he would never understand, Naruto paid the man before walking down the street. ‘Maybe I’ll find Sasuke and have a real fight…”

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Sakura left Naruto and made her way toward the tree outside of Tsunade’s estate. If there was anywhere in Konoha that she felt safe, it was on the grove of trees where she learned how to be the medic nin she had come to be. And it was in those very trees that she felt a calm that she hadn’t in a long time. But even still, something about the entire sand situation was really bothering her. For instance, they had some sand, but Konoha was mostly grass and powdery dirt rather than the gritty sand she’d been finding. Sitting underneath a tree, she was determined to do a little meditation before going home and finally facing the truth. In fact, could it be that it was all her imagination, that there wasn’t anything to really worry about? She opened her eyes, after what may have been hours, with little to say for her attempt at peace.

She still couldn’t help but sense something was wrong, and the fact that Sakura couldn’t place her finger on it bothered her even more. She picked herself up and walked toward her house lighted by the setting sun. Can’t believe I was out of it that long… At the sight of her apartment, she wanted to go in, but at the same time, there was a tingling at the back of her spine. What brought all the sand into her house? It only started appearing recently. There had to be something purposeful behind it.

Entering, she grabbed a kunai from her satchel, intent on stabbing ANYTHING that came across her path in the darkness of her home. She turned on a lamp, and the room filled with light, casting shadows this way and that. But nothing dangerous was apparent there. Nothing stuck out as homicidal, and there was no one standing in the room like she had expected. Sighing, she laughed at how silly she must’ve looked holding the knife in one hand and ready to attack.

And even though she felt better after investigating the rest of her rooms and laughing each time she made a fool of herself, Sakura still had this weird feeling in her stomach that turned and turned, perhaps trying to warn her of something.

But perhaps she was just hungry. And after making something to eat, Sakura curled up and read a bit of a book before falling asleep, unbeknownst to the danger that lurked in her room at night.

Meanwhile…

Gaara; he had the power to control the sand. A monster lurked within him, and sleep never came for it would mean that he had succumbed to that monster. There wasn’t much else to know about the sand nin. Not many people knew the story behind him: his story. Not many people listened to what he had to say, partially because he didn’t talk, and even when he did, they were never alive to hear the end of it.

He was a killing machine. No mercy came from the sand as it could crush your skin and bones in an instant without Gaara even blinking in your direction. And yet, this killing machine was doing something interesting. He was sitting in the room of a weak medic-nin who was not worth a passing glance by even the lowest of ninjas. And why you ask?

He could sleep. There was something about her that made that monster calm. Gaara, of course could not see why. No one had the power to do that. The monster would rampage, would kill, and there was no way to stop it. So Gaara never slept. He never would allow the monster to take over, lest he perish.

It was only the previous week that he had slipped through a window into her house to hide from a few nin that had been on patrol. Any other mission, he would’ve attacked and killed them with no mercy should they have seen him, but this was stealth. No one was to die, and it would be as if he had never appeared in Konoha at all. And so he found her sleeping, so innocent and completely unaware of his presence in her space.

What a sorry excuse for a ninja. It’s a surprise that she has made it this far.

Sitting there, in the cool, silence of the room, the desert-born soldier leaned his head back, closing his eyes and letting the sounds of the night, of her breathing to relax him. Gaara sat still, content on just sitting there till everything was clear, watching her intently that if she did wake up he was the first to reach her before even a breath left her lips. But after a while, Gaara’s concentration slipped, he got sloppy, his eyes eased down, and he slept.

Not used to sleeping, Gaara only nodded off for about an hour or so, but once he jerked himself awake and pushed past the cloudy-headed stage to realized what he’d done. And he left as quickly as he’d arrived with even more questions and confusion than Sakura would endure later. Why? Why was I able to sleep without the consequence of him taking over? And how did I lose control and let myself sleep?

Later, Gaara figured that it had to be the girl. He returned the next night to test out his theory in an idiotic move that might have destroyed all of Konoha had be been wrong, but it proved correct that the girl was, in fact, the key. His control slipped when he was around her, and he discovered over the next few nights that it was quite comforting knowing that the demon wasn’t going to release. And he came again the next night and the next, reveling in sleep for the first time in years.

But why? Who knows? But he liked it. Gaara couldn’t remember the last time he dreamed. It is said that if a person goes so long without having dreams, it will make them go insane. Well, who was to say that he wasn’t already there? All the relentless killing that he’d done, that he would continue to do... well, there was something to be said of that.

As he looked at her while she was sleeping, there was nothing that he wanted more than to kill her. He wanted her to relinquish the control she maintained over him without even knowing. And there was something that was so appealing about her motionless state. Her beauty, maybe it would look better in death. He could only imagine it, his sand covering her skin, the sharp of her jaw angled just wide enough to let out a silent scream, his hand clasping slowly as she sank free of life.

But he couldn't kill her. For one reason, and one reason only.

Sound sleep.

But was he going to make this a habit? Keep returning to Konoha night after night, risk getting caught, all for the sake of forty winks?

But in the end, each night was the same. She would turn out her lights, and within the hour she’d be sleeping, restfully. Gaara would sneak in and lean against the window and wonder, passively, why she sometimes tossed and turned and couldn’t grasp the vestiges of sleep, but he soon would remind himself that she was not anyone important to him.

It was the sleep that called. ‘But maybe she is important. Maybe she is because I can only sleep in her presence.’ Gaara thought as he concentrated on her breathing. It was deep, slow, and sensual of a sleeping girl. He walked up the wall of the first story and entered the only window in her apartment bedroom.

What would become of the one-tailed beast?

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Tsuyoku: that’s all for one. I wish some people would give me some reviews, I might need some help with this fic. Any ideas will be welcome. Please R&R, flames welcome!